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HMS Ramsey joins NATO’s SNMCMG1

HMS Ramsey, a Royal Navy minehunting vessel joined her NATO counterparts in Kiel January 21 to practise mine countermeasure operations.

The Sandown-class minehunter, usually based in Faslane, arrived in Kiel after first sailing through the famous 98-kilometre Kiel-canal.

It took the ship 9 hours to complete the canal passage.

Once in Kiel, the sailors attended the ceremony which saw the German Navy and Commander Martin Schwarz of flagship FGS Donau take charge of the minehunter group – one of two operated by NATO in European waters.

It is the task of the international group to practise minehunting collectively so they can respond to any crisis as well as to conduct exercises dealing with historic ordnance such as bombs, unexploded torpedoes, shells and mines from the two world wars.

With the formalities over, HMS Ramsey and the NATO group will start with a series of exercises near Copenhagen.